Essence of Steel
by Kointoss
Summary: They were always known for their power with seals and their Bloodline. One so powerful it could reach across Space and Time. His steel-gray eyes opened, humming with power, echoing across Eternity, "I am the Bone of my Sword..."
1. Chapter 1

"Eight Steps" the feminine voice rang.

_Placing the footing. _I must position my body so that an invisible arrow touches both of my toes and runs all the way to, and through the target. My feet must be placed the approximate distance of an arrow and at a sixty degree angle so as to place equal force on each foot to attain maximum balance.

_Forming the Body._ I must verify that my body is balanced, and that my hips are aligned with the target. My body must be straight, so I do not hit my face.

_Readying the Bow. _I must complete three steps: grip the bowstring with my right hand, position my left hand on the bow's grip, and I must turn my gaze towards the target.

_Raising the Bow. _I raise the bow above my head to prepare for the draw.

_Drawing apart. _I bring down my bow, pushing the bow with my left hand, while simultaneously drawing with my right.

_Full Draw. _I complete my draw, placing the arrow level with my mouth. The arrow should be in line with my feet as stated in step one.

_Release. _I release the bowstring in my right hand extend the arm behind my body.

_Continuation of the Shot. _I remain in position until the arrow strikes the target. Only then do I lower my concentration and subsequently, the bow.

Bright blue eye were wide open in wonder as he watched his mother shoot arrow after arrow into a tree about 50m away. "Eight steps" she said, but he couldn't count them all, he was only 6 after all. So far he could count up to a hundred, but his mother had yet to teach him anything about the craft that he had just witnessed. He felt his mind beginning to actually shut down from the sheer badassitude of what he just saw. For now, he just continued to stare in amazement as he watched his mother's technique, heedless of the chilled afternoon air biting at his nose.

When she had exhausted her supply of arrows, she stole a peek at her son. The momentary hardness in her eyes disappearing as she saw his wonder. She couldn't help the smug look that crossed her face as her bow disappeared in a flash of particles. She put her hands on her hips and gave her son the biggest shit-eating-grin she could muster while laughing. "Hahaha. Yes, bask in your mother's Glory, sweet child! Soon, you too, shall be as awesome as I am! Ha ha ha..."

"Yes, please teach me!" he cried "I'll do anything!" he started vibrating in place in excitement.

She smiled, "Okay, okay, calm down Naruto. We'll get to the finer point of archery later, but for now we must have a talk about the power inside of us."

"Power?" he parroted.

She nodded and sat down on the ground brushing a stray bit of red hair. "What we have in our bodies is what is known as a Bloodline Limit. It is a special power passed down through our family from generation to generation. Every family has different traits. For example, the Uchiha have their Sharingan, the Hyuuga have their Byakugan, the Kaguya have their Shikotsumyaku and so on. Ours is very powerful, it allows us to create weapons out of our own chakra." she paused at this "You remember what I said about chakra right?"

He nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah, its the energy in our bodies that we create!"

"...And?" she prodded

He took a second and his face screwed up in concentration, "Umm, its divided into two parts? Body and Mind?"

"Close." she answered "Body and Spiritual. What we do is call upon the spiritual chakra within our bodies to open up the doorway in order to bring forth our weapons."

"Wait, wait!" he interrupted "So what kind of weapons can you make? Can you make a hammer? Or a big-ass swo-OUCH!" he was interrupted by his a fist on top of his head.

"What did I tell you about foul language!" she yelled at him

His eyes teared up as he looked up at her while holding the already-swelling lump on his head, "Not to..." he got no reprieve as his mother kept staring at him waiting "...or you'll wash my mouth out with soap..." he blubbered out.

"And don't you forget it. Girls don't like a boy with a foul mouth. If you want any children in the future I suggest you remember that."

"Yuck!" she scrunched his eyes tight and stuck out his tongue "Girls are icky! I'll never like them!"

"Oh?" she asked in amusement "But what about me? I'm a girl too, you know."

His eyes flew open immediately as he jumped up and latched onto her white sleeve with both hands, "No you aren't! You're my mom, you'll never be icky. Even when you're old and fat, and I'm gonna have to take care of you because you wont be able to walk, or hunt, or work anymore." he yelled, completely missing her twitching eyebrow.

"One other piece of advice." he stopped and listened to her in rapt attention "**Never, **mention a girl's age to her. **EVER.**" she stood up over him with a dark and menacing aura around her.

For a split second he contemplated running. He knew his mother was a very cool and strong ninja. But then, even ninja had to die eventually. After the thought of running flashed through his mind, he started to wonder what that creature behind his mother was. The dark, shadowed face; the deep red blood-like eyes, and the waving hair–wait, that **is** his mother. Oh dear God, what had he done? He subconsciously shrunk away from her and started curling up in a little ball. All of a sudden the aura dissipated and the creature went away, replaced by his beautiful mother. He was scooped up and he hear her voice, "Aww, I'm sorry my little Naru-chan! I didn't mean to scare you!"

"Hmph, I wasn't scared!" he puffed his cheeks out and looked away, huffing.

"Sure, sure. But you understand that it is your duty to continue on our family." he voice suddenly serious "We're the last two free Uzumaki in the world now."

_Oh right. That. _The sobering thought tore its way through his mind.

He had forgotten about when his mother had told him about the fate that had befallen their family. About how the last Great Ninja War had been started with the slaughter of their clan. It had taken an alliance of Suna, and Iwa launching a full scale invasion of Uzushio for fear of what their clan could do. However, they did make them pay. 100 Uzumaki had destroyed thousands of the invading armies with the use of their bloodline. This is why they were now living in Kirigakure. Well that and the incident that had happened in Konoha when Naruto was four years old that had forced him and his mother out of Konoha and into hiding.

"Yes. I understand..."

She sighed, "But we'll leave that for later. For now you wanted to know what kind of weapons I could create right?" she smiled when she saw him come out of his funk for the most part. She called forth her chains out of her palms and the wrapped around the nearest tree to her left. She squeezed them and tore the unfortunate thing into splinters. Ignoring his startled gasp, she dismissed her chains and created a dozen swords around her that she summarily sent flying into the trees nearby, buying each to their hilts. Then she dismissed those as well creating a Large single bit Ax. It had a wooden handle and the head came straight out and then curved down into a large flat head. She threw it towards her next target and it flew, spinning, and bisected the tree before returning to her hand and was summarily dismissed into a stream of light particles. She then turned back to her son who had regained his wide-eyed expression and barely repressed eagerness.

It didn't matter that he was only six years old. She wouldn't teach him the dangerous stuff for a while yet. She smirked at him, "Now the first thing you must learn in order to do this is called Structural Grasp..."

Kinda a short chapter, but it was more to get it down on paper. I have the hardest time starting something, but once i get going, I really get going. The only reason i stopped so quickly is because this is pretty much just an intro, and it was the most logical place to stop in order to keep the pace later on.

Anyways, reviews are always appreciated and encouraging. Until next time!


	2. Chapter 2

A couple things before I start:

Don't expect much in the form of part of the nasuverse crossing over. Don't expect Shirou to pop up, or Rin, or Sakura, or angra mainyu, or even Zelretch. This is mainly in the narutoverse and will have hints of the crossover. Mainly in the form of the Uzumaki bloodline. There's no reincarnation or the actual characters. This is AU from the normal Naruto storyline, but it will take place in that storyline.

On the note of the bloodline, I'll leave that for speculation until I get around to explaining it, which shouldn't be too far off. 3-4 chapter at the most.

And "Guest" who wrote the two-part review, great minds think alike, but it's not quite what I had in mind. Mine is a different spin on things.

Remember, reviews are definitely appreciated and I will definitely read them and take them under consideration.

**On with the story!**

**Chapter 2**

Four years.

Four years she taught him how to use their bloodline. The boy soaked up her teachings like a sponge. His chakra levels were quite large; larger than hers, in fact, and he was only ten years old; not that she was complaining. He was still a little short for his age, but nothing time wouldn't fix.

He would be strong enough when the time came.

Today was the day she told him everything. He was ready for it. What he would do with the information, she didn't know. But she'd have to cross that bridge when she got to it.

Today was the day that they also had to leave Kiri. While in town she had heard whispers of "Bloodline Freaks" getting what was owed to them. She had heard rumors, but now it seemed that there was actually an open rebellion. Maybe she would take him south towards her ancestral home, give him something to anchor down to.

All in good time.

She smiled, humming to herself as she continued making breakfast for her son when she heard a loud thump come from his room followed by a groan. "Good morning Sleepy-head!" she called over her shoulder as he stumbled into the kitchen, wrapped in his large blanket.

"It's too early to be morning. Can you turn the Sun down please?" he moaned. She laughed and pointed at the table.

"Don't worry it will be ready soon." she ignored the angry snarl that was his stomach and cleared her throat, gaining his attention, "There are some things we need to talk about..." she trailed off, wondering how to continue. "First off, we're leaving today."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because there's now an open rebellion in Kiri. They've been hunting down people with bloodlines and killing them. Obviously we can't stay here because of that, but there was an attempt on the Mizukage's life yesterday and since we're on the border, we should probably leave before it gets locked down completely. Plus we'll finally start traveling" she put on a smile to cheer him up "we'll go somewhere warm...the beach maybe. And then we'll go to Wave, visit the old family home, and then who knows?"

"Okay..." he moped, "I hate the cold...WAH" he was interrupted by being picked up bodily and thrown out of the back door. And not a moment too soon, because after his mother dove out behind him the house exploded in a geyser of flame and wood.

Wiping the dirt from her hands onto her green apron, she got to one knee and looked back at her son, "Run, and don't look back." she whispered to him. When he didn't move immediately she grabbed his shoulder and shook it, "Go, now!" he nodded with wide eyes and took off into the forest the opposite direction.

She stood and turned around to face her attackers. How could she have missed it? She had always been able to sense hatred and negative feelings before. Was it because of what had happened **that** night? Did she also lose that ability when she lost almost all of her chakra capacity? She had grown lazy and dull. _There will be time to fix that later._

There were two of them. One was short and fat, with large, angular eyes, and a mask covering the bottom of his face. Everything else was covered in that large black cloak with red clouds on it.

The other was very tall, much taller than her, in fact. He also had the black cloak with red clouds on it. He had a slashed Taki forehead protector and solid green eyes. The rest of his face and hair were covered by a mask. His only other discernible feature were his black fingernails and the ring that he wore on his left middle finger.

"I told you it was her." he spoke in his deep, baritone voice. "Konoha's Bloody Habanero will fetch a fine price on the black market. It's too bad, though. I would have liked to keep her heart for myself. But the money wouldn't even be close, eh Sasori?"

"Shut up and get on with it. We're supposed to be back by now. You know how I hate making people wait."

"So, should even I bother to ask who you two are? Would you actually answer me, or just attack me out of the blue?"

"I would, but there's no point in revealing our names to a dead person." the short one replied before tearing off his mask and sending a large hail of senbon at her from the gaping maw that once seemed to be a mouth.

_Begin Synchronization._

_Analyzing base core._

_Reinforcing Composite Materials._

She reinforced her legs and clothes with chakra and dove to the side, circling around to the left of the pair. _Can't dodge them all._ In her head she felt the hammer strike the anvil and her body started to hum with power. Her body glowed yellow for a brief second before golden chains sprouted from her back and flew towards the two enemies. Each jumped opposite each other, while she focused her attacks on the short one, singling him out from his partner.

Closing the distance, two more chains sprouted from her back, totaling six. Two wrapped around her arms forming makeshift gauntlets, while the other four attacked Sasori directly. One of her chains was swept low, forcing Sasori to leap over it while another came down vertically, to bisect him down the middle.

What she didn't account for was the five meter long tail that sprouted from under his cloak and stabbed into the ground, throwing him to her right side. With a quick snap-roll to her left she barely dodged another hail of senbon while simultaneously throwing her right arm out, spearing him through the mouth with her chain. She took grim satisfaction in watching his body crumple to the ground as she pulled the chain back through his head and spun in around her arm until it was back in its place.

_Something is wrong here. There wasn't any resistance when Why didn't he attack me while my back was turned? _ She thought idly as she turned her attention back towards the man standing off to the side. "Wondering why I didn't attack you?" the man asked. _What the–_ "If you had taken her seriously the first time Sasori, you wouldn't be in this position." He wasn't even talking to her. He was talking to the freshly made corpse off to her left. Or was he? Not deciding to take any chances she lashed out with the four chains from her back and smashed the body once again. This time, it seemed for good, as the body exploded into small chunks of red and white wood. She didn't miss the fact that there was no blood, or organs, or other things of the gory nature usually associated with an exploding body. Nor did she miss the dark shape that threw itself out of the "body" an instant before her attack hit. _Sasori. Hes a puppeteer. No, he **is** a puppet. _She finally realized it after she had gotten a good look at the real Sasori. Red hair, red eyes, the glazed-over look in them. And the fact that she could only sense his chakra coming from a singular point in his chest. She stilled her slightly ragged breathing. She would need her energy for what was about to come

"To destroy Hiruko is no small achievement, even if I was underestimating you. It wont happen again." the redhead monotonously spoke as he open up a scroll that said "Three" on it.

And there it was. The ludicrous act of what seemed to be Standard Shinobi Ceremony. Not like it used to be back in the days of her grandfather, where every moment of every day was a combat experience. It seems that the two opposing shinobi would face off in a clearing, much like this one, and would each introduce themselves, lauding their own personal skill and village while degrading their opponent's. Then would come round two, where they would exchange minor jutsu after minor jutsu, each one taking it up a notch until one was forced to retreat or would reveal his so-called "trump card." It seems every single fighter has his "trump card," and this liner fighting had been what she had come up against day after day in her stint as a ninja. Round three was the inevitable rematch where their opponent was smarter, and stronger, and more prepared to counter your arsenal. That was the problem with the ninja of today, the reason she was feared back when she was a Konoha ninja was because she was willing to take the fight to the enemy and had the willingness to cause the most harm, and was the faster of the two to put that course into action. Oh, and she never let the enemy escape. The one time she did was when she earned the nickname, "the Bloody Habanero."

So she braced herself mentally for the inevitable commencement of banter while she started formulating a plan.

"Wait, Sasori. We need her alive and in one piece. I can't get the money if you carve her up into one of your puppets."

"The money doesn't matter anymore, My collection is one puppet short, and she will be my next piece of art." he turned his attention back to her. "I can't wait to unravel your mysteries, to clean out all your organs, and preserve your body. I am very interested in seeing how I can manipulate your Blood Limit. You will be a very special puppet to me."

"You want to see my powers, then? Here, have them." She struck the anvil again, feeling her body heat up even more so, darkening her skin a little. **"Trace On."**Reinforcing her body to its limit, she disappeared from the clearing, reappearing a millisecond later to the large man's side. She threw out her left leg in a roundhouse and slammed the man in his unprepared ribcage sending him tumbling into the forest. She needed to end this, quickly. Her chakra wouldn't last. "**I am Steel, Forged in Blood."** An oversized Yumi appeared in her left hand.

It was as unnamed bow, however that did not make it any less powerful. Other than being the standard Feudal-era Yumi, it was about five inches longer, allowing for a more powerful draw. It was the bow that belonged to Minamoto Tametomo. He was a man said to have sunk a ship by shooting below the waterline. The Yumi was larger than her own body; it needed to be, for what she was about to shoot from it. She drew the empty bow and her voice rang with power once again, **"The weight of bowstring; Balance and Beauty within; an instrument, tool." **Then there was an arrow where there wasn't a second before, impossibly large: three feet long and two inches in diameter with a Watakusi head easily four inches wide and thrice that long. It was a monstrous arrow meant for cutting and tearing of flesh.

Sending her chakra into the arrow she reinforced it to dangerous levels. She had to, she didn't know what kind of defenses this puppet of Sasori's had. She had to destroy this puppet before she moved onto the real Sasori and that thing in the center of his chest seemed like as good as a start as any. She breathed out, still slightly miffed that Sasori had just stood there waiting for her to finish her Aria, **"One arrow, One life."** and she loosed.

* * *

I stopped on a tree branch roughly a mile out from where I had originally started. Not physically tired, but beating myself over abandoning my mother like that. _Why am I running? I know she told me to, but I should be strong enough to hold my own. She's weak, much weaker than she used to be. Alone, she'll die; there's no way I can allow that to happen. I can't just run away while she gets turned in for some stupid bounty. _I took a deep breath to steady my heart as I turned around, hearing a large explosion in the distance from where my mother was currently fighting those two. As I started making my way back towards what was once my home for the past five years one thought sang true in my head.

_I will save you_.

"**Trace on."**

* * *

_Eighth step complete. _ She thought to herself as she lowered her arm and dismissed her bow, her right hand gripping a sword that wasn't there. Sasori wasn't dead, but there's no way she had missed him. Then the dust cleared and she knew the reason why.

Kakuzu had finally decided to make his return to the battlefield. His hands were still in the position of the Snake and he had summoned a large section of earth to rise in front of Sasori to protect him in the last second. Sasori did not, however, come out of the exchange unscathed. He was missing his right arm entirely; blown off at the shoulder. Through sheer mass of the wall had been enough to slow the projectile enough to allow Sasori to move enough to where the shot wasn't fatal.

"That's enough Sasori, I'll take it from here."

"Do not destroy her body. She _will_ become my next masterpiece."

"Stow it. You were the one being too careless with her. You know what I always say, If you're prepared, there won't be any sorrow. And I know how to beat her." the green-eyed man spoke without breaking eye contact with her.

"**Tempered through strife, and honed through war." ** She felt her insides start to burn and spun her right arm around until it unraveled the chain around it. Except this time the chains were no longer ethereal. This time there was steel. This time, there was a dagger attached to one end, golden and inlaid with darkened steel. Small golden tears in the fabric of reality sprung all around her enemy. "**Enkidu" **she spoke as chains erupted from the tears, trapping the man by wrapping around his limbs, neck, shoulders, and his abdomen.

"What the-?"

"Die." Her left arm joined with her right as the chain shout out and speared the man through his chest. His struggling ceased as he slumped in his restraints. She drew a ragged breath as she tried vainly to steady her breathing and released the chain back into their tears. She studied Sasori's reaction as her victim's corpse hit the ground; or lack thereof, it seemed. "You seem to have taken it rather well that I just killed your partner."

"It would take much more than that to put him down." he replied. He shifted his position back to his partner's side "Get up Kakuzu, We need to finish this."

"You're right." Her eyes widened in surprise as the voice came from the supposed 'dead man' lying face down on the ground next to his partner. The man's body wiggled and rippled and out from his back bursting through his cloak were two heads. Both had white masks; one had a red-trimmed and grinning mouth, while the other a beak-like protrusion with blue edges. "Katon: Zukokku, Futon: Atsugai." the masks mouth opened and a swirling vortex of fire and wind coalesced before shooting her direction and combining to create a massive firestorm.

She crouched down and she brought her left hand to her right side and in her drawn hand appeared a sword, a sword of godly magnitude. There was a brass handle, inlaid with brown leather for a grip, however, there was no blade. When she drew the sword handle across her body a great crescent of sea-foam rose to meet the oncoming wave of fire. Savaragī talavāra, the Heavenly Sword; used by Indra to defeat Vritra, a massive snake Asura who held captive all the water in the world. After losing the battle and brokering a truce not to attack Vritra with anything made of metal, wood, or stone, nor anything that was dry or wet, or during the day or the night. Indra used the foam from the waves of the ocean to kill him at twilight.

They clashed together with a great hiss and while the fire in front of her was stopped, it washed through the forest on either side of her starting what would soon be known to the people of Kiri as the Nishi no Hinoarashi: the Firestorm of the West. She leapt forward, ignoring her singed air, a testament as to how hot the flames actually were, and the shooting pain permeating her spine and attacked Kakuzu savagely with her chains narrowly missing him with each slash.

A hiss in the air was her only warning as she was struck in her left arm with five senbon from Sasori, who had decided to rejoin the fight.

Severe pain radiated from the wound, but she couldn't quit now. She couldn't die yet, not with her son out there, all alone. She had to get up, Steel never died, it was only repurpossed. Her son had enough training to go on without her. She could afford to become Steel. The pain in her left arm was replaced by numbness, but that was fine, Steel did not become numb. Steel felt no pain. She felt her mind start to shift as she started to complete her Aria inside of her head. So barely noticed the numerous black threads pierce her body and tear into her chest cavity. All that mattered was completing herself so she could destroy that which threatened her.

She did feel the massive pulse of energy above her as a black spinning shadow severed the threads from their source. Her fading vision barely caught the flash of brown as a shape landed in front of her.

Then there was black.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

He ducked behind a tree as the large wave of fire passed on either side of his body. He could feel the burning of his arms through his brown long-sleeved shirt. He could smell the singing of the hair on his head. His eyes screwed shut as he held his breath, knowing that all the oxygen was being sucked out of the air. Time was running out.

Normally if a few trees caught on fire here, it wouldn't be that big of a deal, they would smoulder for a while and the fire would eventually die. Even chakra enhanced flames might catch a few more on fire, but they wouldn't spread very far, as the latent moisture in the air and in the trees themselves would give them an innate resistance to any flame. But flames this hot? He could feel the trunk behind him heating up as the other side was blackened. In fact, he thanked whatever gods were still out there that he was in this place, perfect to give him cover from immolation.

Stupid. He had completely forgotten to reinforce his clothes. He should have been quicker to act when he saw the wall of flames heading his way. Rectifying his mistake he continued onward towards where he knew his mother was fighting the two strange men. He wasn't far now, a hundred meters or so. He could already see brief glimpses of the clearing. A few seconds more and he would be in support range of his mother.

"Trace, on." he whispered as a black bow appeared in his left hand. It wasn't anything really special, just the plain black bow he had been practicing with. He didn't feel the need to dip into his arsenal just yet. Better to find how what his opponents are capable of before he hit them with his full power.

As he leapt to a branch that partially concealed him from view he saw his mother on one knee looking like she was knocking on Death's door. With his reinforced eyes, he saw the two men standing near her, one was standing looking no worse for wear, except for the fact that he had a hole in his chest and two weird mask things sitting on his shoulder. No, they were sprouting from his back. The man had a scratched Taki forehead protector. He would need to be the first to go.

The other man, (boy?) he assumed was the small hunched over creature that first appeared when he and his mother had exited their house. He had his right arm blown off at the shoulder, but there was no blood anywhere to be seen around the wound or the ground. Weird.

He saw his mother leap forward at the two-armed man slashing at him numerous times with Enkidu. Every time she seemed like she would hit him, he dodged by mere centimeters. As Naruto brought his bow up to trace an arrow to shoot the man in the head, so did the one armed man raise his arm. He saw the faint gleam of the sun off of poison-tipped senbon fire from the man's fingertips and strike his mother in the arm.

Naruto froze. His bright blue eyes started watering. _She can't die like this. There's still so much time I have to spend with her. So much she can teach me about the world._ He screwed his eyes shut trying to ward off the tears and dismissed his bow. He purged himself of all his emotions, shifting his mind into Steel; just like his mother had taught him. Sorrow, anger, and hatred would only hinder him in this fight. He drew back his right arm and where once there was nothing , appeared a large black falchion. Reflecting the light of the flames ominously he opened his eyes, now silver, and focusing on the threads that had found their way into his mother;s body the threw it. Gan Jiang, the Chinese blade married to the white falchion Mo Ye. Named Kanshou and Bakuya after the wife who threw herself into her husband's furnace in order to complete the impossible order given by the emperor of China.

Bakuya turned into a dark spinning disc as it flew towards Kakuzu, who noticed it at the last second and pulled his body back and leapt back a few feet with the sword severing the threads he had rummaging through Kushina's chest to grab her heart. Naruto leapt into the clearing in between the two and his mother, trusting in their bloodline to heal her.

"You will not touch her." Not a boast. This wasn't his opening line in the Standard Shinobi Bantering Ceremony. This was a statement, merely him stating the truth. There was no way they would be able to touch her. He would raze the ground they stood on before he allowed that to happen.

"And you think I'm going to let some punk little _child_ tell me what I am going to do?" Kakuzu asked. "Futon: Atsugai" the wind mask opened its mouth and shot out a large blast of wind.

"**Rho Aias." **Rho Aias: The Seven Rings that Cover the Fiery Heavens. The great, seven-petaled shield of the hero Ajax, used to block the Javelin of Hector during the siege of Troy, conceptualized as a great seven-petaled flower that sprung to life in front of Naruto's outstretched hand. He didn't have much time to trace it, but against a mortal attack, he wouldn't need it.

The compressed air managed to slice right through the first layer without stopping, but wore down on the second enough for the third layer to finally stop the attack. His eyebrow raised at the thought as he continued his attack; ironic that the shield he used was able to block a thrown spear because that's what he was about to use against this creature in front of him.

A great spear materialized in his right hand. To a normal man, it would reach about shoulder height, but to a ten year old, it went well above his head. Fifty small rivets held the iron head onto the wooden shaft. Leaning back, Naruto grabbed the shaft with his other hand and parried upward the spike connected to a long cord coming at him from his left to spear him through the center. He rolled backwards over his shoulder as the spike changed direction and impaled the ground where he was.

"Well, well, well. Looks like the little kid is fast." Kakuzu spoke in that baritone voice of his. "This is your last chance, kid. Let us take the woman and go and we'll let you live."

"You'll never touch my mother."

"Another Uzumaki? Well, I'm sure someone will pay handsomely for your body. Perhaps we'll even keep you alive enough to sell you to Konoha. I'd be willing to bet that they'd love another Uzumaki after they lost their last one." His eyebrows furrowed behind his mask. "Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure she was the one that left that village." he looked over at Sasori, "Now we definitely need to keep the kid alive."

"Lucky for me that I don't have that kind of restriction." He struck the anvil inside of his soul, **"I am the Bone of my Sword."**he gripped the spear tightly in his two small hands and shifted his feet and tensed his body. **"Iron is my Blood, and Glass is my heart."** The spearhead started to glow cherry red as it started heating up.

Its name was Lúin Celtchair, wielded by the Irish warrior, Dubthach Dóeltenga, at the Battle of Da Derga. The spear was wreathed in fire and is said to slay a man with every thrust, and should it be thrown, nine. However there is a condition for the final attack: there must a king or royal heir within the nine.

When Naruto saw Kakuzu's eyes flick towards his partner, he leapt forward. Kakuzu noticed the glowing spear and flowed through hand seals, "Suiton: Suijinheki" a large wall of water sprang up through the ground in a large semicircle in between the two.

"**Luin-"** Naruto ceased his forward movement while drawing his right arm back. When his body's forward momentum stopped, he used it to slingshot his right arm forward, thrusting the spear towards the water wall, **"Celtchair!"**

The spear extended.

* * *

_What the hell is with this family? I've never seen attacks like this. _In his one hundred and fifty years or so on this planet, he was being pushed far beyond what he had ever been, save once. His battle with the First Hokage. That man had only managed to destroy two of his hearts. This brat's mother had already managed to do the same. Lightning, Wind, Water, Fire, Earth. Out of those five all he had left were his Wind, Water, and Fire. That red-haired bitch had managed to kill his two with one strike.

It was all a roll of the die now. If she had an Earth or Lightning elemental affinity, bounty be damned, she would restock him.

_Of course the little child has an attack like his mother. I'll definitely have to keep Sasori in check after this. He's going to want to keep the child for himself._ His eyes flicked towards his partner for a second to see what he was doing. Sasori had his arms extended forward and his palms facing the child. He planned on using his flamethrower attack. He felt the massive pulse of chakra from the small child and his eyes whipped back towards him. That's when he noticed the spear glowing a cherry red. He could kill two birds with one stone here. His Water Encampment Wall would suffice to cool the spear down and stop the child's assault, while protecting him from Sasori's counter-attack. So he made the necessary seals.

The Water sprang up in front of him obscuring the boy's visage momentarily. Not that that would matter. As soon as he saw the massive glare of flames through the water he would drop it and ensnare the brat with his threads.

Then the glowing spear head came through the water and pierced into the center of his chest.

One good thing about having a red-hot piece of metal thrust into you: the wound was instantaneously cauterized. So at least he wasn't going to bleed to death. But now he had yet another dead heart and the spear was cooking him from the inside out. He grabbed the shaft below the eight-inch spearhead, and ignoring the fact that it was wood and yet still burning the hell out his hand he ripped his body backwards and assimilated his Fire Heart off of his shoulder and back into his body.

He needed to regain his bearings. He would not be killed by this _child._ He needed time to think; time to regain his bearings and think of a solution to the boy's mysteries. As his wall of water dropped, so did the boy's spear retreat back to its normal length and ceased its glowing. The boys eyes were wide with surprise of the fact that he was still alive. _Good if he's wondering about my powers that will help me for when we next meet. _Tactically retreating was not beneath him. The dead had no use for Pride.

_**Kakuzu, Sasori, return to Ame immediately, there is a situation that needs to be dealt with.**_

_Speak of the Devil, and He shall appear._ He looked at Sasori and nodded, receiving his partner's nodding of assent back. Flicking away, he swore to defeat that small child when he more fully understood what he was facing. There was research that needs doing.

* * *

Steel receded from Naruto's mind as he felt the two men disappear from the area. As soon as he was sure they were gone he whirled on his downed mother and started taking stock in her appearance. His eyes were first drawn to her face. He noticed her pallid complexion and shallow breathing.

"Mom? Mom, can you hear me?" no answer. He pinched the piece of meat between her thumb and index finger and was satisfied to hear her groan of discomfort. Good, that meant that she still had feeling in her hands and that she wasn't completely brain-dead.

He then moved his attention onto the needles that were in her arm. He dare not just yank them out, for fear of doing more damage than good. There was a doctor in the nearby town. That man could probably diagnose her better. _I don't understand, why aren't you healing?_ He put his hands on her arm, and using his Structural Analysis he saw that the needles weren't aimed at any certain bundle of nerves or arteries or tenketsu in particular, so he pulled them out gently and placed them on the ground next to her. He would need to get her to the doctor as quickly as possible and get those needles there as well. During his analysis of her body, he detected a large amount of a corrosive poison, eating away at her blood vessel and chakra coils.

With her coils as damaged as they are already, she wouldn't last a day, much less three. It was times like this he was glad that his mother knew how to play far ahead. She had stashed drop bags in a hollowed out rick a few hundred meters from their house just in case they had to pack up shop and leave in a hurry. She would be fine for now. Not much was around them except for a few minor critters skittering and scampering about.

So he dashed off in search of their drop bags. Then he'd get her to the doctor. **"Trace, on." ** Time was of the essence, after all.

* * *

She woke in tremendous pain. It radiated throughout her body and permeated her very core. Her chakra was still out of whack and she couldn't mold any of it properly. Not that she had much left anyways.

She was dying.

She had to get to Naruto before she died. She had to tell him.

She opened her eyes, "Na-" she tried to get out before her haggard voice caught. She looked around and saw that they were in a wooden room. She was lying on a white bed, with the faint beeping of an EKG machine. So she was in a hospital, good. Any amount of time that prolonged her life was more information departed on Naruto. Speaking of which, she saw no sign of her son anywhere. She had briefly hoped that he would be passed out next to her so she could have a chat before her time was up.

She fished around her for the call button used to summon the nurse. Once depressed, she waited for the inevitable entrance of someone who she could ask where her son was. While waiting, she decided to get a better feel for what kind of injuries she had sustained. Using structural grasp on herself was always a weird affair. She never figured out how to categorize seeing and feeling her own insides as if they were out on display. Kind of made her feel like a lab frog that was splayed open in a medical laboratory. She closed her eyes and immediately pictured the wire-frame of her body's skin. She delved deeper into her body, checking her Musculatory system; something was wrong. There were heavy metals that shouldn't be in there. It was starting to destroy her muscle cells. For now it was centralized in her left arm and shoulder, it was making its way into her chest cavity already, but it wouldn't be long before it hit her spine and sent her into crippling pain. Already her left arm was numb and immobile. She wouldn't last, she'd be dead by sundown tomorrow.

The door to her room opened and an elderly man with frizzy, white hair and coat walked in. His face was set with a few wrinkles here and there, but he seemed to be in his late forties. "Hello, Mrs. Shima, my name is Doctor Noguchi, how are you feeling?" A fake name? She could roll with that.

"Like I was just poisoned by an asshole in a cape."

"Well, yes; actually you were. We found quite the sufficient quantity of unknown elements in your bloodstream; sufficient enough to where we are trying to work on an antidote." at this he paused and shifted, "I've never really seen a poison this complex, and while we have every assurance that our Poisons Staff is working as hard as they can with it, it is something they've never seen before."

"Oh? And just who is your Poisons Staff?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well that would be me and my colleague...and his assistant. But rest assured, we're working round the clock to find a cure and make you an antidote. I hope you don't mind, but we took a sample of your blood to help in the matter. Since you were unconscious the whole time, your son told us it was okay to do so."

"Ah, okay. Where is my son?"

"I sent him away to go get something to eat. You haven't been in here long, only about 6 hours or so, but he said he hadn't eaten all day."

"That's good."

"Quite."

"Now there are things to be done." she said gathering his full attention once more, "Firstly, I need a pen and some paper, (good thing she was right handed) secondly, I would like some food as well, no use going out on an empty stomach, and thirdly I would like for you to send your assistant out to find my son. I need him here as soon as possible. I won't be lucid for much longer, and I would like to speak to him before I am crippled with pain."

"Now look Mrs. Shima, We may not be as fancy as the Konoha Hospital, but we are still very good. I'm sure you have nothing to worry about."

"I am sure that by now, you've figured out that I am a ninja. I've been poisoned by the famous Sasori of the Red Sands, the very man who destroyed the Land of This. His poisons are said to kill in three days. In my already weakened condition, I won't last even half that. I need to talk to my son before I'm gone." her icy eyes bore into his and sent him back a step. She didn't really mean to send a small amount of Killing Intent into her speech, but she was under a bit of pressure, so she would forgive herself for doing that.

The doctor sighed, "Fine I'll have my assistant fetch him for you."

"Thank you. The pen and paper were just redundant, so if you can find my son quickly then I won't really have the need for them. I expect I only have about two to three hours left, so..."

"That won't be a problem, my assistant sent to a cafe just down the street, so we should have him here in just a few moments."

"Thank you. Once my son gets here I would like some privacy, please. I'll send my son out when I am ready for you."

"Very well."

She sighed and looked out of the window at the foggy village. She hoped he got here soon. Time was of the essence.

* * *

**So that's that. I decided to end it here and continue on with the next chapter, so expect that within a few days.**

**Thanks for favving and the reviews guys. Hope you guys keep throwing em my way. I'm always glad to hear what you have to say, and any comments are very appreciated**

Hope you guys liked the fight. I don't think i've ever really been good at writing and describing them, but i try to keep them a realistic as i can. Well, as realistic to how i think the battles would go. These long and drawn out battles just irk me something fierce. It completely goes against what they should be, but then the manga would be completely different and probably wouldn't have the following it does. But i will reflect how i see battles happening like I've done here, unless anyone has a good pointer or two they would like to bestow upon me in a review or pm...w/e...

One thing, Like most Americans, i don't speak another language (besides kitchen Spanish, and a smattering of German). while I'm trying to rectify this, if you leave me a review/question in another language, I'll still try to respond, I'm just going to have to run it through Google Translator first. So don't be suprised if the response is straight from there. Copy and paste works wonders.

Oh, and one more thing. If any of you guys see a hole, or some confusing part that you think i could change a bit to make easier to understand, or something wrong that i've written, please don't hesitate to let me know, and I'll fix is ASAP. I'd rather be wrong and have someone point it out and fix it, than just leave it out there for everyone to see.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

She woke in tremendous pain. It radiated throughout her body and permeated her very core. Her chakra was still out of whack and she couldn't mold any of it properly. Not that she had much left anyways.

She was dying.

She had to get to Naruto before she died. She had to tell him.

She opened her eyes, "Na-" she tried to get out before her haggard voice caught. She looked around and saw that they were in a wooden room. She was lying on a white bed, with the faint beeping of an EKG machine. So she was in a hospital, good. Any amount of time that prolonged her life was more information departed on Naruto. Speaking of which, she saw no sign of her son anywhere. She had briefly hoped that he would be passed out next to her so she could have a chat before her time was up.

She fished around her for the call button used to summon the nurse. Once depressed, she waited for the inevitable entrance of someone who she could ask where her son was. While waiting, she decided to get a better feel for what kind of injuries she had sustained. Using structural grasp on herself was always a weird affair. She never figured out how to categorize seeing and feeling her own insides as if they were out on display. Kind of made her feel like a lab frog that was splayed open in a medical laboratory. She closed her eyes and immediately pictured the wire-frame of her body's skin. She delved deeper into her body, checking her Musculatory system; something was wrong. There were heavy metals that shouldn't be in there. It was starting to destroy her muscle cells. For now it was centralized in her left arm and shoulder, it was making its way into her chest cavity already, but it wouldn't be long before it hit her spine and sent her into crippling pain. Already her left arm was numb and immobile. She wouldn't last, she'd be dead by sundown tomorrow.

The door to her room opened and an elderly man with frizzy, white hair and coat walked in. His face was set with a few wrinkles here and there, but he seemed to be in his late forties. "Hello, Mrs. Shima, my name is Doctor Noguchi, how are you feeling?" A fake name? She could roll with that.

"Like I was just poisoned by an asshole in a cape."

"Well, yes; actually you were. We found quite the sufficient quantity of unknown elements in your bloodstream; sufficient enough to where we are trying to work on an antidote." at this he paused and shifted, "I've never really seen a poison this complex, and while we have every assurance that our Poisons Staff is working as hard as they can with it, it is something they've never seen before."

"Oh? And just who is your Poisons Staff?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well that would be me and my colleague...and his assistant. But rest assured, we're working round the clock to find a cure and make you an antidote. I hope you don't mind, but we took a sample of your blood to help in the matter. Since you were unconscious the whole time, your son told us it was okay to do so."

"Ah, okay. Where is my son?"

"I sent him away to go get something to eat. You haven't been in here long, only about 6 hours or so, but he said he hadn't eaten all day."

"That's good."

"Quite."

"Now there are things to be done." she said gathering his full attention once more, "Firstly, I need a pen and some paper, (good thing she was right handed) secondly, I would like some food as well, no use going out on an empty stomach, and thirdly I would like for you to send your assistant out to find my son. I need him here as soon as possible. I won't be lucid for much longer, and I would like to speak to him before I am crippled with pain."

"Now look Mrs. Shima, We may not be as fancy as the Konoha Hospital, but we are still very good. I'm sure you have nothing to worry about."

"I am sure that by now, you've figured out that I am a ninja. I've been poisoned by the famous Sasori of the Red Sands, the very man who destroyed the Land of This. His poisons are said to kill in three days. In my already weakened condition, I won't last even half that. I need to talk to my son before I'm gone." her icy eyes bore into his and sent him back a step. She didn't really mean to send a small amount of Killing Intent into her speech, but she was under a bit of pressure, so she would forgive herself for doing that.

The doctor sighed, "Fine I'll have my assistant fetch him for you."

"Thank you. The pen and paper were just redundant, so if you can find my son quickly then I won't really have the need for them. I expect I only have about two to three hours left, so..."

"That won't be a problem, my assistant sent to a cafe just down the street, so we should have him here in just a few moments."

"Thank you. Once my son gets here I would like some privacy, please. I'll send my son out when I am ready for you."

"Very well."

She sighed and looked out of the window at the foggy village. She hoped he got here soon. Time was of the essence.

* * *

Naruto sat on a bench in the backyard of the doctor's house; the same one that served as his clinic. His food was most likely cold, with it being abandoned in the room where his mother had recently died. He wasn't really hungry anymore anyways. His mind was awhirl of the things he and his mother had discussed. So many things clicking into place.

So he decided to spend the evening in nature. He looked into the garden, listening to the hypnotic thrum of the cicadas and the steady beat of the Shishi Odoshi. In a way it seemed indicative of how the cycle of life was. Inevitably, one must return to the Earth. For Uzumaki it was different. One did not bury swords into the ground when they were of no more use. Swords were melted down in fire, re-purposed to something else. So it was with his family for generations, so shall it be with his mother; so shall it be with him.

He needed a few minutes to compose himself and think of his next move.

Firstly, he needed to destroy this place and all of its data. Secondly, taking care of the staff was an option too. He didn't want to go down that road, but the risk of potential damage that could be wrought with information about how his mother's body worked was too high for him to just ignore. Thirdly, disposing of his mother's body. Beyond that, he hadn't really figured out, he was at a crossroads.

With at least somewhat of a basic plan in mind he stood up and prepared himself for what he had to do. He turned around and made his way into the small building and sought out his mother's room. He opened the door and scanned the room. The first thing he noticed was the doctor with a syringe in his mother's arm. His eyes stayed locked onto the syringe and he knew what he had to do, as much as he hated it.

When the doctor noticed his appearance, his expression softened. "Look, son. I know that you've had a rough time today, but there are things we need to discuss." he moved around the bed to Naruto's side and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Yes. There are." Naruto monotonously responded. Naruto moved his eyes from his mother to the doctor's eyes and locked on.

The man recoiled away from him as if struck. He took an involuntary step backwards and crossed his arm across his body as if to ward off an attack. "Wh-What?" Realization dawned on him as he had an idea on what Naruto was about to do. "No! It was the poison. There was nothing we could do in this short amount of time! Please don't kill me!"

"Relax." Naruto said, "I'm not going to kill you."

"R-really?" the man didn't look convinced.

"Yes, but I'm taking my mother out of here. I am also going to need to see what progress you've made on creating an antidote for this poison. There's a chance that the man might come back for me and I would like to be prepared."

The doctor seemed to be put at ease by this. "Well, we didn't get very far. That why I was taking a blood sample; to try to figure out how the dead cells were killed to try to look at it from another angle. That's what I wanted to talk to you about." Naruto raised an eyebrow "I'd like your permission to perform an autopsy. It would give us the best insight on how it affected her cells. If we can figure that out we could very well be on the verge of a cure."

"No."

"What?" the doctor looked at Naruto. "You stupid little child, do you have any idea what we could learn from your mother's corpse? I'm trying to make a name of myself and rid the world of any kind of poison. I will not let you stand in my way." the man's face turned downright murderous as he made to swing at Naruto. His fist met air as Naruto leaned out of the way and skipped backwards into the hallway with the doctor following.

"Poisons, eh?" Naruto's steely gaze pierced the doctor and froze him in place. "Very well then. I'll give you a poison to study."

* * *

"_There are seven steps to the proper tracing of an object:_

_Judging the concept of creation _

_Hypothesizing the basic structure _

_Duplicating the composition material _

_Imitating the skill of its making _

_Sympathizing with the experience of its growth _

_Reproducing the accumulated years _

_Excelling every manufacturing process _

_This is how I was taught Projection, and this is how you will learn to do it. Now, this not only allows you to project a copy of what we will upon the world, but it allows us to project a _complete_ copy of what we will upon the world. The World does not like others' will being imposed upon it, so whatever we create, will eventually be reverted back." Naruto and his mother were sitting on the back porch of their house. Naruto absentmindedly fiddled in the dirt as he processed that information. "Remember what I told you about Structural Grasp?"_

"_Umm, how it allows me to see what something is made out of?"_

"_Yes. It allows you to see what anything is comprised of as if you were seeing a blueprint." His mother took a sip of the steaming tea she had sitting next to her and gestured with the cup, "Now, this has many uses; for one I know exactly what this cup is made out of. When I apply the seven steps..." she held up her left hand, and with a quick muttering of the incantation, there was a cup in her left hand. _

"_Wow!" Naruto's eyes grew wide. "It's just like the original!" he yelled as he jumped up and shot forward for a closer look._

"_Not just like the original. For all intents and purposes it's exactly the same thing. I recreate the creation process, the composition materials, and even its exact history. When applied to the projecting of weapons, it becomes an invaluable skill. When I teach you to open the gate, you will understand._

* * *

His eyes focused back on the task at hand as he mentally shook off the memory. His hand moved to grasp the hilt of an unseen sword, **"Trace On."** In his hand was now a Black-handled Jian with a gleaming blade with a green tint and three symmetrical notches down the blade. The sword in total was over two and a half feet long. Its name was Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, the Grasscutter Sword, wielded by the god, Susano'o to slay the Yamata-no-Orochi, and in slaying the creature the sword gained its poisonous quality.

Without any further fuss, he stabbed the doctor in the stomach and pinned him to the wall. "You've forced my hand, Doctor Noguchi." he looked to his right down the hall, where the rest of the clinic lay. "I had hoped to resolve this without any bloodshed. But I cannot allow anyone access to the blood or bodies of my family. Therefore I must destroy this clinic and all its occupants." he looked back at the doctor. "For the greater good of mankind."

"N-no." the doctor gasped as the poison coursed through his system, rendering him incapable of movement or speech.

_One down, three left. _Naruto walked down the hall and opened the first doorway to his right. He looked inside and saw nothing but another empty exam room. Continuing on he opened another three doors until he came to a room with two people inside, one older man and lady dressed in lab coats. They were facing away from him, hunched over microscopes muttering softly back and forth. Two more innocents, sacrificed to save countless more.

He hesitated for a moment. Did he really need to kill these people? Perhaps he could reason with them. Granted, it isn't likely that they'll listen to him seeing as how he's only ten years old, but there's always a chance, right? No, there's no way he could take that chance.

He formed a kunai in each hand, and whispering a quick "forgive me" he stabbed each of them at the base of the neck, killing them both instantly. _Three down, one left._

He left the room, searching for the last worker of the clinic, doctor Noguchi's assistant. He remembered her going back to the front desk when she brought him back from eating lunch. As he rounded the corner to the front door he saw her sitting there, reading a magazine. She hadn't even noticed his approach; probably for the best. He wanted to make it as painless as possible. He opened a small gate, the golden tear appearing on his right shoulder with the point of a blade sticking out. **"Trace. Bullet, Fire."** the kunai launched, hitting the girl in her left temple, instantly killing her. _Four down, none left._

Naruto made his way back to his mother's room, stepping over the dead body of the doctor that had fallen on the floor when he had dismissed the Kusanagi. He opened the door and made his way inside and sat down in the chair next to the bed.

Never had he felt so alone. He suddenly felt so small and everything else seemed so big, suddenly the room seemed darker and his world a little more gray. His mother had always been the map to guide him. Without her, he felt so insignificant against the world.

* * *

He stood on a small clearing, about fifty meters from the shoreline. It was a few miles from the town. He left the small clinic a smoldering ruin, and burned anything and everything of importance; the bodies of the workers, the the research, and all of the blood and data he could find. Nobody would be doing anything to his family on his watch.

So here he was, standing next to the funeral pyre that he built and set his mother upon. He couldn't help but reminisce about his life with his mother. Suddenly all he could think about was the tea she made for him. Her black tea was actually quite amazing...once you put enough sugar in it, that is. He couldn't help but chuckle and glance to the torch in his right hand that he lit. after a minute later he sighed and touched the torch to the wooden construct, start the flames licking at it.

He had to take a step back to avoid being burnt from the searing heat he felt on his face from standing a bit too close to the fire. By now his mother's body was completely engulfed in flames and he could no longer see any part of her. He mulled over her final words as he barely held back his tears.

"_You must go to Wave country. Find the ruins of Uzushiogakure. Search for our clan grounds, and find the Workshop. There you will learn the secrets to our bloodline. You and only you must enter. Guard the workshop with your life. And if you decide to take the materials and create your own workshop somewhere, you must destroy any who would seek to soil its grounds. You're all that is left of our clan that is free." her face screwed up in pain as she barely held consciousness. "Save her. Save your sister."_

He looked up to the rising column of smoke and turned around looking to the rising column of smoke from the town a few miles away. "Of course, mother. Of course." and with that he disappeared into the trees heading South-by-West towards Konoha.

* * *

She sat, perched upon the air conditioner condensing unit atop the roof of the building that served as the barracks for her unit. She was dressed in the standard outfit for an ANBU Black Ops Operator. She wore the black jumpsuit with the dark-gray flak jacket over it. She had a porcelain mask clipped onto her belt in the snarling visage of a bear. Her red hair spilled over hear shoulders reaching her shoulderblades, and piercing blue eyes scanned for any threats. She had black elbow-length gloves with metal arm guards on top of them, and black sandals with spikes for traveling in mountainous regions. She idly wondered what the mountainous regions looked like. She had heard of them, but to her dissatisfaction, she was not authorized to leave the village due to her nature.

She looked out over the town she was sworn to protect. She wondered what it must be like to lead a normal civilian life. Never having to worry about dieing on a mission or having any of her comrade die, she envied them slightly. Only slightly, because she had taken upon herself the mantle that she would never thrust upon any else. Her life was forfeit as soon as she had been drafted into the Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai. She had been in it ever since she could remember. She just turned seven a few months ago and was already two years into her training.

This was probably the reason she wasn't allowed outside the village. She was special. She was different than all the others. She lifted her hand, palm up and stared at it, cocking the trigger in her soul and releasing it. A small, golden chain appeared from her hand and raised about a foot into the air.

She dismissed it and continued flowing her chakra throughout her body, strengthening it and increasing the rate of flow in which she could manage. She continued until the pain became too unbearable. She gasped for air as the pain subsided and took another look out into the village as the moon reached ever higher into the night.

Until she was called upon to serve and die for her village, she would train. Whatever it took to save her country, she would do; it was her duty. But for now, she would continue with her exercises, doing what she could with what little information she had on her bloodline.

She would be ready.

* * *

okay, so a bit short i realize, but it starts to explain a bit of what's going on and a bit of how i'm adopting the magic to the naruto universe. I'm not going to just blatantly put everything out there in the open. I'm going to make it hidden and of course drop hints every now and then to get the blood flowing to your brain to make you think and work to understand whats going on.

Thank you to everyone who is reviewing. Every time i see one of those it just makes me open it up and write a little more. Keep reviewing please. I love to hear what you guys think of my story, and your thought on what you think is going on and ho i could make it better. Also if you see any glaring deficiences, please let me know via pm or review. and i'll make the edits.

Until next time!


	5. Chapter 5

**I know it had been a little longer than usual, but with school starting and looking for a job it's taken me a little longer than normal to get this one out. That, plus I kinda wanted to get this right, even though its a sort of a filler chapter. There is some pertinent information in here that will be addressed later on. Do keep in mind, though, that if I write something in here that isn't exactly how it went, keep in mind that I'm writing from one person's perspective, so if they don't have all of the facts, then i'm going to write it that way. So pretty much I think you need to pay attention, otherwise you're probably going to be confused later on when things ramp up, and they will be ramping up pretty soon. If you haven't figured it out yet, i'm mainly going to be focusing on Naruto and his sister, Akiko and how their stories intertwine.  
**

**Anyways i hope you'll like this chapter and as always, please leave a review in the comments section below. I love to hear your guys' thoughts on how i am progressing the story and what you guys think i could do better or maybe some off the wall idea will spawn something completely new.**

**Chapter 5**

Something was different. She felt something inside of her. It wasn't like it hadn't always been there, but ever since last night she felt it was stronger. When she circulated her chakra throughout her body she felt it there, deep within her core. It was there, and yet it wasn't there. It was as though, while centered, it was spread out and permeated every cell in her body. She always felt it, even when she circulated her chakra within her body for the first time.

But now, it was stronger than before.; a curious thing that would require more contemplation and investigation later when she was with her instructors. For now, she would have to get back to her exercises.

For the past two years she had been sequestered away from scrying eyes. She was special and had to be kept as a trump card in the event of some sort of foreign invasion. That was the problem with being the last of her kind, she didn't have much direction. All she had was based off of what her tutors could get a hold of, and they had already turned over everything they had; well, at least they said they did.

Enkidu, the chains in which divinity could not escape. The more divine the target, the stronger the chains became. It was a gift from the last Uzumaki to live within the walls of Konoha, Uzumaki Kushina, who died the day of the Kyuubi attack. She had used the heavenly chains to subdue the beast long enough for the Fourth Hokage to seal it within the newborn babe that was to be the beast's container. Unfortunately for her, the beast got its last hit in and mortally wounded Kushina, dooming her to an early grave.

The girl had wondered what her mother had looked like. While she was told that her mother was on a prolonged ANBU operation, she had wondered what it would be like if her mother was here and they were just a normal family. She often dreamed of going to the civilian school, and getting into small misadventures, eventually falling in love with a boy and holding hands with him.

Too bad she was training to kill her enemies with extreme prejudice. She resigned herself to the fact that her family was doomed to be in the killing business. And it seemed that now more than ever, business was good. She saw less and less of her comrades when she spent her hours at the Ops Center hidden behind the small restaurant.

Walking down the road towards her base, she mulled over her plans for the day when a low voice came from the alley next to her and broke her from her reverie

"Kuma-san."

"Yes." she stalled her movement.

"Your presence is required by the Hokage."

"Yes. I'll be there momentarily." she felt a small gust of air that signaled the Operator's departure. She idly peered over at the now empty alley where the voice came from. _Duty calls _she thought and promptly turned around and vanished in a burst of speed towards the large tower that dominated the cityscape that was Konoha.

* * *

There was a slight tension in the air of the office of the Hokage.

She stood at attention in the center and was waiting patiently for the Hokage to address her. He was currently standing, facing away from her and staring out of the window and looking over the village. She couldn't see his face because of the long and flowing Hokage robes that he wore every day.

She didn't need to turn around to see them, but in each corner of the room to her back was an ANBU Operative, wound tightly and ready to spring forward to protect their leader at the slightest hint of aggression.

She idly noted that security had been getting a little tighter in the recent weeks. It wasn't very noticeable; an extra operator at the gates, another patrol leaping from roof to roof in the night, and while there wasn't an official curfew, the civilians seemed to retreat into their homes a little bit earlier, as if they feared something in the night.

"How old are you now?" came the voice from behind the cloth in front of her.

"Twelve."

"And we've been training you since you were six, so seven years now..." he paused for a second and then slightly turned his head to his left. "Do you know why you were summoned?"

"No."

He paused for a second more before turning around, and leaned heavily on his wooden cane. His hardened un-bandaged eye bored into her with a steely gaze. "You are powerful. You are fast. You are smart." his eye turned to the two guards behind her and made a waving motion with his hand and they promptly left, closing the door behind them. His gaze returned to her, "You are a Jinchuuriki and as such need to harness your powers. With your chains you can subjugate the beast but until you fully grow into your body, you will need a caretaker. Someone who can control you if your beast gets out of control."

"It will _not_, Hokage-sama." she said with finality.

His single eye narrowed at her, "Nevertheless, from now on you will learn to work with others. We have trained you as well as you can be trained. So until your body finishes its development, you will be placed on a team." he moved the chair behind him and sat down and leaned his cane on the desk beside him. "However, there are other security measures with must be taken." His now free hand moved to a larger file and he slid it across his desk to her. "In this file you will find your two targets. This is no assassination mission, but a long-term protection mission. Open it."

She took a step forward and grabbed the folder, opening it and pulling out two files. Each was about a quarter-inch thick with a picture paper-clipped on the front. The front one had a picture of a boy with black hair and black eyes: Sasuke Uchiha. The second was clipped with a picture of a girl with dark blue hair and pale eyes: Hinata Hyuuga. She pushed the files back into their folder and held it at her side. She would study them later.

"You will go undercover as their teammate and protect them from the shadows. War is coming. Orochimaru has formed his own hidden village and will without a doubt attempt an attack on Konoha. He will most likely form an alliance with another village, so be on the look out for any suspicious acts of character from now on."

"Yes."

"Your team leader will be Hatake Kakashi. He will continue your training from here on out. Learn from him and do not fail in your duties. You are from here on out permitted to leave the village on official capacities only."

"Yes."

"One last thing." he paused to look her straight in the eye, "Remember that you are more valuable than your charges. Should the day come that you must sacrifice them to save yourself, do it. Two lives do not matter in the grand scheme when the safety of the entire village is on the line. Until I call for you, you will not answer to your ANBU Handle, and take all commands from Kakashi. Any questions?

"None, Hokage-sama."

"Then you are dismissed."

"Yes."

She turned on her heel and left his office, leaving him to turn back to the window and overlook the village, stoically gazing over it in contemplation. "Do not fail in your duties as well Kakashi..." he murmured to himself.

* * *

_Fools, all of them._

They had no idea what true suffering was. They all lived their comfortable little lives with their mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters, living happy days and staying blissfully ignorant of the world around them. _Hate me._ He gritted his teeth behind his two hand that were clasped in front of his mouth. Soon, most of these children would be dead, betrayed by the naïve ideals that the academy instilled in them.

They were completely unprepared for what lied ahead of them. He could only wonder what two idiots he would be paired up with. As long as they didn't slow him down and stayed out of his way, he didn't care one way or another.

So here he was, sitting in the final minutes of his academy class. His teacher, Umino Iruka and Mizuki were both at the head of the class, lecturing them of what to expect as a ninja. Hmph, as if a final "here's what you should expect" lecture is going to adequately prepare them. There teams were announced and he was paired with one Hinata Hyuuga. In all honesty, he could have been paired with _her_, the pink-haired Haruno Sakura. A complete waste of human flesh. Her only attributes being her intellect and her ability to act as a human shield to take the first blow while he took out the enemy with his vastly superior skills. The Hyuuga's Byakugan would be a powerful asset in his coming missions, and her gentle fist style would prove an adequate challenge for his skills. While he had no doubt that she would fall at his feet like all the others, she would undoubtedly prove to be a good benchmark in the beginning.

Interestingly enough, he wasn't assigned a third teammate. He was only informed that he would be getting a ninja who was already in circulation. He wasn't given a name so he could only hope for someone who would be a better challenge than the Hyuuga.

"...with that, good luck to everyone in the future, and I wish you all the best! Please wait for your Jounin Sensei's who will be here momentarily." Iruka and Mizuki both bowed and walked out of the room amidst a chattering of excited voices. Already he could see the teams gravitating into the cells they were assigned to and moving off to get to know each other better.

He kept his silent vigil on the window outside, lost in the memories of that fateful night when a small 'ahem' announced the arrival of his soon-to-be teammate. He looked over to see her with her hand folded over each other in front of her.

"Hello Uchiha-san. My name is Hyuuga Hinata. It will be a pleasure to work with you. Please take care of me." she said while bowing in formal greeting.

"Hn." he answered, looking back to the window and ignoring her small snort of displeasure. Of course he knew who she was. He knew about as much as he could without going over the line and tipping everyone off that he was preparing to kill anyone who should cross him. He saw no need for those kind of formalities. Life was a fleeting thing and there was no room in it for things such as honor and feelings.

Power and Procreation: the two necessities of life.

It was the basics in which the world turned. One gained power to impart his will upon the world. He gained power in order to carry on his genes to the next generation. A predator would always find its prey and consume it and its energies. He was a hawk, and a hawk always finds its prey. It just needed to be patient. So he would wait.

And he waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

Soon enough, it was he and his partner who had gone and started doing basic kata to pass the time. Right when he was about to murder her for his sensei being late, the door slid open revealing what had better be his sensei.

A Grey-haired, one-eyed, masked face poked into the room and locked onto him and the girl.

"Hello, team seven?" he smiled and gave them no time to respond, "Meet me on the rooftop!" and then the door closed and his sensei was gone. There was nothing left to do but go to the roof.

And that's what he did.

* * *

The first thing she noticed after going through the door after Sasuke was her sensei to her right seated on the ledge reading an orange book. She spied the title and suppressed a grimace at the _Icha Icha Tactics_ smut that her new leader was reading. It seemed he was a rather large pervert, but it shouldn't be a problem. As long as he didn't get...grabby...there was no need for any action.

The second thing she noticed was the other girl who was sitting on the ledge a few feet from her sensei. She was currently looking out over the city with an indifferent look on her face. She had on a dark blue, long-sleeved turtleneck under a black, sleeveless hoodie that only came to just above her stomach. Over her hoodie, she wore a gray leather breastplate armor, reminiscent of what the ANBU wore, but slightly different. She wore matching gray shinobi pants, wrapped at the bottom and bottomed off by the standard black sandals that most Konoha ninja wore. She also had a dark leather utility belt with a pair of pouches on either side and loops for storage scrolls that were currently empty.

With her hood down, she could see the girl's long red hair tied into a low ponytail with a pair of slightly spiked bangs framing each side of her deep-blue eyes and slight distant look on her face. Hinata idly thought that even though this girl was just starting to hit puberty, she was already on her way to being what most would consider to be a very attractive woman.

But what she wondered was what the girl actually did around the village. Hinata couldn't remember seeing her...ever, actually. That red hair would be pretty distinctive as it wasn't exactly a standard shade of hair that one would normally see, even in the rainbow of colors red was pretty rare.

"Now if you will, please introduce yourselves to your new teammates so we can get this started." her cycloptic leader eye-smiled and turned his head in her direction, indicating for her to go first.

Hinata took her cue and clasped her hands in front of her at her waist, "My name is Hyuuga Hinata. I am twelve years old and I am the Heir to the Hyuuga clan. I am proficient in the Gentle Fist Style and I am currently working on expanding it. I hope we can get along, so please treat me well." she bowed at the end to her new teammate and sensei in the traditional formal greeting. She held it for a moment before raising herself back up and noticed that her new teammate had shifted her body to look straight at Hinata. She was glad to see that her teammate nodded her head slightly in response to Hinata's greeting.

"Next?" her team leader turned his head towards the dark, brooding boy who had taken to leaving against the door behind her.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke" the boy said with his arms folded in front of him. Hinata's nose wrinkled in disgust again as the boy didn't even see fit to open his eyes or turn his head in their direction when he was addressing them.

If it was one thing Hinata could not abide, it was poor manners.

"...aaand?" her sensei goaded the boy into saying anything else.

"What do you want from me?"

"Anything else to share?"

"Don't get in my way."

The Gray-haired man's eye smile didn't falter as he responded, "Great!" he turned his head to the redhead.

"My name is Uzumaki Akiko." Hinata's eyebrows shot up in surprise at the name, she could have sworn she even saw Sasuke's eyes open and look at their new teammate in his version of surprise. "I am the last heir to the Uzumaki techniques and am well versed in their ways. I have been in circulation for two years now, and I hope to work well with you." she bowed towards them, which Hinata returned with a head nod.

"Great! Anything else anyone wants to share before we get moving?"

"Yes, sensei I have three things I would like to address." the redhead stated. Taking his lack of response as her go-ahead, she continued, "you have yet to introduce yourself."

"Ah, how silly of me. My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have many likes and dislikes, and you don't need to know my dream for the future, satisfied?"

"Partially. Two: why were you so late today? I was lead to believe that the legendary Sharingan Kakashi would be more professional that this." her blue eyes bore into his frame as he sighed.

"Sharingan? What do you mean Sharingan?" Sasuke demanded, his attention fully garnered.

"Underneath his headband lies the Sharingan of his deceased teammate, given to him before he died."

Kakashi lazy eye moved to her and he sighed in exasperation, "I really wish you would give away my secrets like that. How can I keep my mysterious flare if you do that all the time. How would you like it if I gave away _**your**_ secrets?" he flashed a knowing look in her direction that Hinata definitely didn't miss. "Anyways, the reason I was late was that I was walking here and then a black cat crossed my path. So naturally, I had to take the long way around, but it kept following me, so I had to keep going the long way around even more. Eventually I ended up in the far end of the town, so by the time I made my way to the academy I crossed the path of an old lady who needed help carrying her groceries home. Then it started raining and I got all soaked, so I had to go home and change clothes, lest I catch a cold. Then I finally was able to arrive on time to see my new, cute, little Genin."

Silence.

"That...was an awful lie." Akiko deadpanned. "Am I to believe that this is going to be a common occurrence?"

"Hmmm...we'll see. Now!" he changed topic, "normally I'd give you another test to prove your worth to me, usually in the form of a self-sacrificing test to show you the value of teamwork, but since my hands are kind of tied on this one, congratulations on passing your Genin Exam. Meet me at the base of the Hokage tower tomorrow morning at around eight, and we'll get started on our first missions! Ja ne!" he disappeared in a swirl of leaves leaving Hinata, Akiko, and an already departing Sasuke alone.

"One more thing I need to tell you two." she called to them, halting Sasuke's departure.

"I am the container of the Kyuubi no Kitsune."


End file.
